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This photograph by Mathew Brady shows the effect of a 32-pound shell from the 2nd Massachussets Heavy Artillery fired at Fredericksburg, Virginia. Brady, the New York-born son of Irish immigrants, was the most prolific photographic documenter of the Civil War. He and his assistants -- including, at one point, Alexander Gardner -- made over 10,000 photographic plates of the war. (Mathew Brady/National Archives and Records Administration/LIFE.com) Visit LIFE: Your World in Pictures